CHILTON TRINITY

The ancient parish of Chilton, known by 1329
as Chilton Trinity, (fn. 1) lay in three principal and
several smaller parts. The principal parts were
the three Domesday estates of Pignes, Huntstile,
and Idstock (or Edstock), to the last of which
Beere had been united by common ownership
by the later 14th century, although Idstock
church had perhaps been independent in the
early 13th century. (fn. 2) Chilton village, 2 km. north
of Bridgwater, lay largely outside Chilton parish,
only the church and Chilton Farm standing
within its ancient boundaries. The largest area
of the parish lay 3 km. north and north-east of
Bridgwater on both sides of the Parrett, on the
rich alluvial land which included the site of the
11th-century settlement of Pignes, a name which
survived as a tithing into the 19th century. (fn. 3) Six
km. WNW. from Chilton church, between
Cannington and Fiddington parishes, lay Idstock tithing, otherwise known as Idstock and
Beere. Six km. SSW. from Chilton church was
Huntstile tithing, bounded on the west by
Goathurst, into which it was later absorbed, and
on the east by North Petherton. Other parts of
Chilton parish lay within or adjacent to Wembdon parish, including allotments in Chilton
common, north and north-west of Chilton
church. About 1840 the tithe survey reckoned
the ancient parish at 1,012 a. excluding the 304
a. of Idstock and Beere, then described as an
extra-parochial chapelry (fn. 4) but in fact part of
Chilton parish; (fn. 5) Idstock and Beere were sometimes regarded in the 19th century as part of
Cannington and were treated as a separate civil
parish between 1866 and 1886, when, with 3
houses and 21 persons, they were added to
Cannington and (a small part) Otterhampton.
Also in 1886 Chilton Trinity lost Huntstile, with
3 houses and 27 persons, to Goathurst and an
uninhabited part to Wembdon, and gained parts
of Bridgwater (9 houses, 44 persons), Durleigh
(8 houses, 36 persons), and Wembdon (1 house,
9 persons). Those changes reduced the area of
the parish from, apparently, 1,381 a. to 1,143 a.
excluding foreshore and tidal water. In 1907 an
uninhabited area of 32 a., called Chilton Common (it had presumably formed part of the
common) and regarded as extra-parochial until
1858 when it became a civil parish, was added
to Chilton Trinity, reckoned as 1,183 a. in
1911. (fn. 6) The parish was reduced in area to 799 a.
in 1933, gaining 75 a. from Bridgwater Without
and losing 436 a. east of the Parrett to Bridgwater Without and 23 a. to Puriton. (fn. 7) In 1971
the area of the parish was given as 324 ha. (801
a.); (fn. 8) the small increase since 1933 not accounted
for by boundary changes, like that between 1886
and 1911, was presumably the result of reclamation of foreshore.

Most of the ancient parish lay on alluvium
below the 15-m. contour. Chilton church and
Chilton Farm, like the rest of Chilton village,
occupy a small island of Keuper marl. Idstock
and Beere, on gradually rising ground reaching
just above the 30-m. contour, are partly on
Keuper marl with a narrow ridge of sandstone.
Huntstile is in a much steeper landscape, as its
name may indicate, (fn. 9) on ground rising from 30
m. to 160m., from Keuper marl at its lower end
through Upper Sandstone to Ilfracombe slates. (fn. 10)

The boundaries of the ancient parish were
irregular. Those of Huntstile followed two
streams flowing down from the Quantocks; Idstock's were in part two brooks and, at its
western end across Wildmoor, a line of boundary
stones. (fn. 11) The eastern boundary of the main part
of the parish, around Horsey Level, may have
followed one or more earlier courses of the
Parrett. A silted-up meander south-east of Chilton village may outline the Newland reclaimed
by the later 14th century. (fn. 12) On the west bank
near Pignes farm 12 a. were reclaimed in the
1620s and more in the next decade, but tidal
changes resulted over 30 years in the loss before
1637 of c. 40 a. on the west bank and a gain of
only 4 a. on the east. (fn. 13) A petition from some local
gentry in 1664 to remove a meander 'running a
great compass' about Pignes may not have been
successful, (fn. 14) and another by the owner of the
farm, Sir John Morton, was opposed 'for silly
reasons' by the town of Bridgwater. In 1673
Morton is said to have hired some sailors, who
made a cut through the isthmus in a single
night. (fn. 15) A second meander known as Viking's
pill, also around part of Pignes and Horsey, was
cut off by tidal action in 1679 and in consequence
some 120 a. of Chilton, Bawdrip, and Puriton
were reclaimed. (fn. 16)

Iron-age and Roman pottery have been found
at Chilton village. (fn. 17) Chilton, Pignes, Huntstile,
Beere, and Idstock were all settled by 1066. (fn. 18)
The name Chilton implies a settlement for
younger sons, Idstock a religious site or a secondary settlement, and Beere a woodland
pasture. (fn. 19) Pignes, on the west side of the river,
may suggest a meander. The settlement at Pignes may have been reduced to a single farm in
the 14th century and was apparently abandoned,
probably because of flooding, before 1723. (fn. 20)
South of Pignes but on the east side of the
Parrett stood buildings described in 1822 as Ship
Pool. (fn. 21) Apparently the same site had become
Hawker's (now Hawkhurst) Farm by 1829. (fn. 22)
Chilton village increased in size after the establishment of the brick and tile works c. 1900 (fn. 23) and
again, from residential development, in the
1970s. Houses in the village in the 17th century
included two of standard three-roomed plan, one
with an additional porch entry with a room
above. (fn. 24) Chilton Farm is a large 19th-century
building in brick, comprising a south range with
two north wings behind. Beere Manor Farm and
Huntstile are more substantial. (fn. 25)

No direct evidence of open-field arable has
been found in the parish. In the earlier 16th
century, however, there were small closes at
Idstock and Beere which might have originated
as arable strips. (fn. 26) Large pasture grounds evidently lay beside the Parrett by the later 14th
century. (fn. 27) In the earlier 16th century some Idstock tenants had small pieces of meadow in
Combwich marsh and Wildmoor in Cannington. (fn. 28) Chilton farmers had rights in Chilton
common, formerly Wildmarsh, north and northwest of Chilton village. (fn. 29) Small detached parts of
the parish near Harp common and Perry green,
both locally in Wembdon, suggest origins in
common rights there. There were 7 a. of underwood at Idstock in 1086 (fn. 30) and 6 a. of high wood
and pasture at Huntstile in 1325. (fn. 31) In the early
18th century there were over 8,000 elms at
Beere. (fn. 32) Huntstile was well wooded in the mid
18th century; and more trees were planted there
in 1778 to form the eastern edge of Halswell
park. (fn. 33)

There was a licensed tippler in the parish in
1674-5. (fn. 34) The Chilton revel was held on Trinity
Monday in the later 17th century. (fn. 35) In the later
19th century a rifle range occupied part of
Horsey Level in the parish. (fn. 36)

In 1563 there were 8 households at Chilton, 6
at Huntstile, and 2 at Idstock. (fn. 37) Fourteen houses
were recorded in 1664-5 (fn. 38) and 14 families in
1749. (fn. 39) There were said to be only three houses
in the parish c. 1788, a figure which probably
omitted Idstock and Huntstile. (fn. 40) In 1801 the
population was 50. It rose from 49 in 1831 to 74
in 1841, fell to 52 in 1851 and 53 in 1861, and
rose again to 88 in 1881. The boundary changes
of 1886 brought a net gain of 62 persons. The
population of the then civil parish remained
stable until 1921, when it was 156, rising to 182
in 1931. That of the parish as constituted in 1933
was 146 in both 1931 and 1971, but rose to 282
in 1981. (fn. 41)

Footnotes

1. Cal. Pat. 1327-30, 414. This article was completed in
1987. The former parish is shown on the maps above, pp.
66, 178, 192.

6. Census, 1831-91; Youngs, Local Admin. Units, i. 421;
the acreage before 1886 is taken from V.C.H. Som. ii. 347,
which says that too large an area was taken for the parish
for Census purposes in 1881 and probably in 1871.

41. Census, 1801-1981, including tables of boundary
changes, 1891, 1931 pt. ii; cf. V.C.H. Som. ii. 347, stating
that the figures in Census, 1881, and perhaps ibid. 1871, were
for an area larger than the parish.